U.S. military blimp breaks loose, crashes in Pennsylvania

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By BNO NEWS

A U.S. defense blimp that broke loose from a military facility in Maryland has gone down in Muntour County, Pennsylvania after causing damage and taking down power lines, officials say.

The blimp, which is officially called the Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System (JLENS), broke off its tether at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland just before noon on Wednesday. Fighter jets were scrambled as the large, unmanned aircraft drifted into Pennsylvania.

Footage from the town of Bloomsburg showed the blimp floating at a low altitude, and the aircraft’s tethering cables were seen dragging on and near the ground as it moved through the area, causing damage and taking down power lines, which resulted in widespread power outages that left some 30,000 customers without power.

The blimp later went down in a rural area near Muncy in Montour County.

No injuries have been reported.

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